


the art of losing

by BunniesofDoom



Series: Line of Succession [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Crying, F/F, Ruby Rose (RWBY) Needs a Hug, Spoilers: Volume 8 (RWBY), Volume 8 (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28758399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunniesofDoom/pseuds/BunniesofDoom
Summary: She's never felt more alone.
Relationships: Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose
Series: Line of Succession [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2076177
Comments: 1
Kudos: 32





	the art of losing

**Author's Note:**

> Believe it or not, the author is sorry for what she's done. But it was bound to happen eventually. Title inspired by "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop. Spoilers for the first half of volume 8. Content warning for character death. The art that originally inspired this idea is linked on my fanfiction profile (same username).
> 
> Enjoy, I guess?

Ruby is tired of losing people.

Whether it’s to death, like her mother and Pyrrha or even Penny like she’d thought for a while; or betrayal, like with Mercury and Emerald and the Ace Ops and Ironwood; or just by separation, like with her dad and Yang and Jaune and the others; enough is enough. So, when Penny crash-lands in the courtyard of the Schnee Manor, Ruby is determined to fix her friend.

She’s a mechanic, after all. She can do this. She can repair the damage to Penny that she has gathered during whatever happened since she left them to go to the communications tower.

She refuses to lose Penny again. Not when she’d sent her away to be safe. She can’t go through this again.

So instead, she enlists Blake and Weiss’ help to carry Penny up to Weiss’ bedroom where Nora is resting, retrieves the toolkit that she always keeps with Crescent Rose, and sets to work.

It’s slow going. The inner workings of Penny’s body are incredibly intricate, requiring careful precision to even check the functioning of vital circuits without completely demolishing them. There’s no guidebook to refer to, meaning that Ruby is forced to rely mostly on trial and error and her own mechanical common sense to double check her work. But slowly, slowly, she begins to make progress, and after several hours and sore hands and profuse sweating she’s pretty sure that she’s repaired all the damage she can see. 

She sits back and scrubs a hand across her face, exhausted. The front of her shirt is stained with green, but she couldn’t care less. Penny is way more important. 

After a few minutes of anxious waiting, as Ruby paces around and wonders if she messed something up while fixing Penny and now she’s broken her forever and—

“Ruby,” Penny says quietly before she’s even opened her eyes.

“Yeah, it’s me, Penny.” Ruby sighs in relief. It worked! “It’s Ruby.”

Penny’s eyes flutter open slowly, brilliant green drifting up to meet overjoyed silver. “It’s so good to see you again.”

“Yeah. Penny, I’m so glad that you’re awake,” Ruby says, taking Penny’s ungloved hand in her own and giving it a gentle squeeze. “What happened to you?”

For a moment, it seems like everything is going to be okay. “I—” Penny tilts her head, frowning slightly, as if deep in thought. Then her expression becomes terrified. She rips her hand out of Ruby’s. “You’re in danger, Ruby.”

“What are you talking about, Penny? You’re with me now, at the Schnee Manor. You’re safe.”

“No!” Penny shakes her head violently, eyes flashing red. “I have to go! The vault—ah!” She shrieks loudly, as if in pain, and her eyes turn back to green again.

“Penny, what’s going on?” Ruby fidgets with her hands, desperate for a way to help. “What did I do?”

“There’s something—wrong,” Penny says. It sounds like the words are being ground out through gritted teeth. Her eyes flash red again, more briefly this time. “I’m not in control, there’s something else inside of me. It wants to hurt you.”

“What do you mean? Did you get hacked?” Ruby’s mind is whirling with possibilities. How can she fix this?

“I do not know!” 

“It’s okay Penny, we can fix this. I can help you!” Ruby tries to reassure her friend. Surely this isn’t anything they can’t get through together.

“No!” A violent tremble runs through Penny’s arms as a gust of wind rattles the curtains. “I can’t risk losing control again. If they get control of the maiden powers, you’ll all be in danger. I can’t risk that.”

“Penny, what do you mean?” Ruby is hit by a sudden, horrifying realization of what’s about to happen. “No! You don’t have to do this. We can find another way!”

“I’m sorry Ruby,” Penny says quietly. She reaches out with her gloved hand, grasping onto both of Ruby’s. Her hands leave green smears on Ruby’s black gloves, but she pays it no mind. “I refuse to let them use me to hurt you.” Her eyes fall shut, and she smiles. “I love you.”

Before Ruby can say anything, a wave of green sparks travels down Penny’s arm, enveloping Ruby’s hands in green light. As she feels the power of the Winter Maiden well up inside her, she’s hit with a wave of memories.

Joy and wonder at seeing the world for the first time.

Joy at meeting her father for the first time.

Loneliness at growing up in a lab, isolated from the world.

Loneliness at having to hide things from her teammates at Atlas Academy.

Excitement at being able to travel to Vale for the Vytal Festival, and the opportunity to see the world outside of Atlas.

Excitement at meeting Ruby and Weiss and Blake and Yang.

Joy at Ruby saying that she was her friend and making her first friend!

Excitement at getting to spend time with Ruby and explore Vale.

Anger at Torchwick for attacking Ruby.

Sadness when she got in trouble with Ironwood.

Excitement and guilt at seeing Ruby again in Vale.

Excitement at spending time with Ruby in Vale.

Fear at the idea of Ruby finding out what she really was.

Joy and relief when Ruby accepted her.

Joy at getting to spend time with Ruby during the tournament.

Fear and pain and confusion when she “died” during her fight with Pyrrha.

Joy and relief when she woke up and saw her father again.

Guilt for having to take some of her father’s aura again. 

Joy and pride at being named the Protector of Mantle.

Loneliness when her duties keep her from making new friends.

Worry at the circumstances in Atlas.

Joy and relief at seeing Ruby again.

Joy at being reunited with her friends.

Joy at being able to work with Ruby.

Fear and uncertainty after she was framed for murder.

Fear and uncertainty at Ironwood’s decision to abandon Mantle and make Winter the next Winter Maiden.

Fear at facing Cinder.

Awe at witnessing the powers of the Winter Maiden.

Fear and uncertainty when Fria asks her if she’ll become the next Winter Maiden.

Reluctance and uncertainty and fear when she accepts the powers.

Fear at being named a fugitive and going on the run.

Fear and shame when Ironwood says that people are going to die because of her.

Relief and happiness and love when Ruby talked to her and reassured her and hugged her.

Anger and fear at talking to the Ace Ops and being blamed by them.

Anger when Harriet threated Ruby.

Fear and reluctance and when she’s forced to fight the Ace Ops.

Fear and guilt when Nora collapsed.

Relief when Ruby and the others found them.

Reluctance and sadness at leaving Ruby.

Fear and doubt about abandoning the others to go up on Amity.

Fear for herself as she fights Cinder again.

Fear for her father and Maria as Cinder tries to destroy the communications tower.

Determination as she holds the tower in place during the broadcast.

Fear as she feels herself being taken over and when she loses control and falls.

Relief when she woke up again and saw Ruby.

Fear when she felt herself being taken over again.

Determination as she decided to refuse to let the people controlling her win.

Overwhelming love for Ruby as she decided to pass the powers on to her friend, knowing that she was the best person to take on the responsibility, and knowing that she was the right person for the job as she was kind and brave and wonderful and—

The memories are gone in an instant, flashing away just as quickly as they came. Ruby kneels beside the motionless body of her friend, tears streaming down her face. “Penny,” she calls softly, swallowing down the sob that threatens to come out. But she can feel the power of the Winter Maiden within her.

Deep down, she knows that Penny is gone. All that’s left of her are the memories now in Ruby’s mind, and the power of the Winter Maiden that now belongs to Ruby, apparently.

Silver flames spark to life around Ruby’s eyes. Snow swirls in the air around her.

She’s never felt more alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please comment and leave kudos if you liked it.
> 
> Also if you haven't checked it out, Stuck by starthatdoesnthaveaname is a take on this same idea and it's wonderfully written and all-around excellent so go read it! What are you waiting for?


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